The first decade of ownership of GM involved having a 50% stake which has only minimal management control .
Saab as a brand has already been compromised with components and chassis sharing even before GM got involved.
GM also issued their reservations and concerns when the Chinese showed interest because of inevitable technology transfer.
Selling the brand to Spyker showed that GM did not want to kill the Saab brand but what could have been the right step during that stage.
If due diligence was done on the end of GM, Saab should have not been sold to Spyker and should have just been closed.
The Spyker purchase of Saab was an impulsive purchase. Spyker acquired Saab as a trophy brand to pull up their credibility. Spyker and its management did not have the skills and experience to manage a big brand like Saab.
Spyker did not handle the negotiations with the Chinese well. They were not in control. It was naïve of them to think that GM will waive its objection to the involvement of the Chinese.
The initial 54% stake of the Chinese was given a go signal by GM and was only blocked when the Chinese wanted a total ownership.

Looking back, GM took Saab from the noses of Fiat after Ford out maneuvered them for Jaguar. Just the what if’s of life, what might have been if Saab remained with the Italian company.

Swedish Automobile that holds control of Sweden’s Saab confirmed that they are accepting a $10 million investment and a loan of $60 million from the North Street Capital owned by Mascioli to help with its reorganization.

The overall picture though is still not good enough for Guy Lofalk, the administrator of Saab, who plans to file a petition in the Swedish courts so it will stop the voluntary reorganization of the automotive firm. Saab however said that it will block this petition and request the courts for the replacement of the current administrator.

Last June, Swedish Automobile had a non-binding understanding with Zheijiang Youngman Lotus Automobile of China to acquire a 29.9% share and Pangda Automobile to get 24% stake for a combined funding of around $338 million.

In the early part of 2011, Noth Spyker acquired luxury car brand Spyker from Swedish Automobile for around thirty two million euros.

Swedish Automobile has been trying hard to avoid bankruptcy for the past months while looking for new investors and releasing a number of assets in order to pay off employees, settle bills with suppliers, and resume production in their factory in Sweden.

North Street will be acquiring 2.38 million shares of Swedish Automobile which were recently issued. Documentation for this transaction is expected to be completed by next week.

Saab has to deal with two white collar worker unions complaining about unpaid salaries for the month of June thru July. They are also not compensated yet for the month August. . The unions served applications for bankruptcy last week to push for the activation of an insurance scheme by the state to handle the wage problems.

One spokesperson of the worker unions shared information that the process might take 3 to 5 weeks.

Saab, on the other hand, announced money-raising activities spearheaded by the company’s CEO Victor Muller. The car producer arranged for around $96 in bridge loan with the aid of a Chinese guarantor. The bridge financing gives Saab some more time as they take legal steps to protect the company from creditors. It has sought for the court’s protection for the second time as it tries to restructure.

One of Sweden’s lower court rejected the case of Saab but the car manufacturer filed for an appeal so the case can be reconsidered.

According to the Saab document that is all over the net, the 2012 905 SportCombi will make use of a 220 horsepower 2.0L 4-cylinder, turbocharged powerplant with a torque of 258 pound-feet. The engine of this handsome wagon will be linked to an automatic gearbox with six speeds and its XWD or Cross Wheel Drive technology implemented by Saab.

The 9-5 SportCombi also gets a good setup for its interiors as Saab gives it an upscale, pricier treatment. It will come with heated seats, panoramic moonroof, keyless start, and touch screen navigation unit as standard issues. Other options include a Technology Package which will give he 9-5 SportCombi a park assist system, lane departure warning, head up display, and bi-xenon lights for cornering. Another option will be the Rear Passenger to give you a DVD player, eight inch screens, tri-zone HVAC, and wireless headphones.

There is still no word about the pricing of this ride.

The top priority of Saab is to outline their first web of dealerships in the Chinese market. They are looking setup initially in six cities and have around 15 dealerships. If ever Saab will produce the vehicles in China, the next gen 9-3 will be the starting point followed by the 9-5 and the 9-4X crossover. The car manufacturer is aiming to sell around 10,000 units per year before considering the local production of its vehicles. The 9-4X will hit the US market by April while non-US consumers can expect it by August.

The Saab 9-4X comes with two V6 powerplant options. Both of the engines are coupled with a six-speed automatic gearbox. There is a 3.0L engine that produces 265 horsepower which speeds up the 9-4X from 0 to 60 miles per hours in just 7.9 seconds with the FWD version while the XWD version comes in at 8.4 seconds.  The 2.8L variant of the V6 produces 300 horsepower and a torque of 295 lb-ft. This version on an XWD configuration blasts from 0 to 60 in 7.7 seconds. The tag price for the 9-4X begins at $34,205.

Without any license hindrances a 2011 9-5 engine which outputs 220 horsepower can easily be tweaked so it will output a far better 260 hp. This is one among the other things that can be done to the line of powerplants of the Saab vehicles.

For now the top executives of Saab is in talks with Hirsch Performance, a known Saab tuner in Europe, to come up with performance parts that can be offered and installed by dealers for their market in North America and their other markets. The car manufacturer though has not yet decided under which brand name the go-faster parts will be marketed since Hirsch is not a well known tuning company outside Europe or to the not so diehard fans of their brand.

The upgrade parts may come in the form of aero kits, exhaust setups, brakes, ECU upgrades, and other elements.

The discussion table includes people from Saab Performance Group, Hirsch, and Viggne moniker. According to insiders it might be possible that the parts will adopt different names in different markets with Hirsch for Europe and other brands for other markets.

The Saab team will work closely with the engineers of Hirsch and give them access to facilities, like a wind tunnel and an equipment for testing emissions, in the development of the upgrade products.

For now Saab fans, more aggressive engines coming out of the Saab garage are definitely not coming soon.

Last week, the story of Koenigsegg’s plan to buy Saab got more and more interesting when it has been reported that Koenigsegg and General Motors have already signed a memorandum of agreement regarding Saab’s sale. Moreover, Baard Eker, the co-owner of Koenigsegg said in an official statement that the Swedish car company has a number of solutions planned and they have what it takes to save Saab from bankruptcy.

The Swedish news company Realtid, reported that taking over Saab would enable Koenigsegg to bring their electric concept car Quant to reality. Saab’s facilities would allow Koenigsegg to produce electric cars, such as the Quant electric car concept and many more.

Electric car Quant’s production is assumed to start with a limited number of units for a few years, with the help, of course, of the government who are pushing for alternative vehicles. The Quant concept car is the concept of Swedish firm NLV Solar AG, a leader in photovoltaics and electric technology. The Quant project started with NLV hired Koenigsegg to design and create a “car of the future” using NLV’s solar technology.

GM disclosed that it will no longer call the shots for Saab and the Swedish car manufacturer will be an independent entity by January 2010.

The announcement of the sale may come before the end of the month, considering the plans of the car maker to write off some debt and be on the positive side of the scale by 2011. Final negotiations might be taking place but final details are still being ironed out according to insiders.

According to the Saab spokesperson, there were three firms that are still showing interest for the company and the sale will push through despite of the filing of Chapter 11. Those remaining on the negotiating table are Swedish car maker Koenigsegg, Wyoming investor group Merbanco, and the Renco Group of Ira Rennert. The bidders’ number was trimmed down from a list of 20.

The details about the offers of the three firms have never been disclosed. Saab has been struggling to make ends meet and needs funding to keep its operations going both for the short and long term.

Saab is able to survive for now through the $3.23 billion funding from the Swedish government and some aid from private firms. The car manufacturer lost about $340 million in 2008 and is expected to file another $300 million worth of losses for this financial year.

The funding Saab will get will be used to launch new models in the next 18 months and help the auto maker come back on track as a pioneer in automotive technology.

They should know that there are quite a number of models that they can go in for and here are a few of the most popular ones. Saab 9-3 2.0t Linear, Saab 9-3 2.0t BioPower Linear, Saab 9-3 2.0t Linear Sport, Saab 9-3 1.9TiD Linear, Saab 9-3 2.0t Linear Sentronic, Saab 9-3 2.0t BioPower Linear Sport, Saab 9-3 2.0t BioPower Linear Sentronic, Saab 9-3 2.0t Vector, Saab 9-3 1.9TiD Linear Sport, Saab 9-3 2.0t Linear Sport Sentronic, Saab 9-3 1.9TiD Linear Sentronic, Saab 9-3 2.0T BioPower Vector, Saab 9-3 2.0t BioPower Linear Sport Sentronic, Saab 9-3 2.0t Vector Sentronic, Saab 9-3 1.9TiD Vector, Saab 9-3 1.9TiD Linear Sport Sentronic, Saab 9-3 2.0T BioPower Vector Sentronic, Saab 9-3 2.0T Vector, Saab 9-3 1.9TiD Vector Sentronic and Saab 9-3 2.0T Vector Sentronic

According to Jan-Ake Jonsson, Managing director of the car company said that they have five potential bidders that they want to negotiate with. They already have some serious talks regarding the offer but Saab didn’t specify which bidder is in much interest on buying Saab.

Geely Automobile and Dongfeng Motor Group of China renounce their interest in SAAB, after some sources reported to Reuters that the mentioned Chinese companies are included in the list of the potential bidders. An executive of Geely said that the company did not hold any talks regarding buying the Saab car brand and Geely is not interested in taking or buying foreign brands. Meanwhile, reports are circulating that Geely is in preliminary negotiations with Ford Motor Co. about the sale of Ford’s Volvo vehicle unit, though reports again stated that Geely has no plans of buying the Volvo.

A spokesman for Dongfeng said that they too did not have any talks about buying the Saab brand and likewise, the spokesman is not aware of any bidding interest in the Swedish car brand.

Jonsson declared that Saab is trying to work out with private equity firms and retired Swedish workers who are interested with their car brand. They had negotiations with advisors of the Deutsch Bank to hopefully identify a potential buyer. They are aiming to make at least some agreement within this month or the next with a company.